56 REPTILES OF THE WORLD 



front of the eyes. The Brown Soft-Shelled Turtle in- 

 habits much the same rivers as does T. spinifer; it is a 

 less abundant reptile. 



The Southern Soft- Shelled Turtle, T. ferox, 

 stands as the largest of the New World species, grow- 

 ing a "shell" eighteen inches long; an animal of this 

 size will weigh forty pounds. On many large examples 

 there are suggestions of spiny tubercles fringing the 

 forward border of the carapace, which condition might 

 cause the species to be confused with T. spinifer. In 

 such cases, the head markings, already described, form 

 a strong point for distinction — besides, the habitat is 

 different. The present turtle inhabits the southeastern 

 United States from Georgia to western Louisiana. 

 In Florida it grows to the largest size and seems most 

 abundant. Adults are of a pale, uniform brown ; young 

 specimens are usually so brilliantly reticulated they re- 

 call the markings of variegated leaves. A near relative 

 is Emory's Soft-Shelled Turtle, T. emoryi, inhabit- 

 ing the Rio Grande and its tributaries. 



Greatly esteemed as an article of diet, large numbers 

 of the American soft-shelled turtles — particularly the 

 southern species — are received at the markets through- 

 out the eastern United States. In the South the col- 

 ored people display an amusing and convenient way of 

 cooking the turtles. When several are procured, the 

 heads are chopped off and a small cut made in the soft 

 plastron, for cleaning; at no part of the process are the 

 outlines of the turtle materially changed. The entire 

 animal is then rolled in meal and placed in a frying 

 pan. It looks exactly like a big pancake — hence an 

 appropriate, while possibly illiterate name in some por- 

 tions of the South — the "flap- jack" terrapin. It should 

 be explained that the negroes obtain the turtles by fish- 



